1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to tools defined as woodworking clamps, jacks and turnbuckles. In particular, it is directed toward new and useful improvements to a floor/sash jack or press which, when removably attached to a beam, joist or substrate, is useful for pressing and holding a workpiece in a desired position.
2. Discussion of the Relative Art
During a search of United States Patent Office records, a few pertinent disclosures were found which have a bearing on the instant invention. U.S. Pat. No. 1,094,449 relates to a floor clamping device that consists in a hand screw-secured, fined anchor which is joined by a threaded bolt to a turnbuckle coupler, which is in turn joined to a threaded bolt and then to a swivel mounted, plain rectangular head. The turnbuckle coupler is rotated by manipulation of a perpendicularly projecting handle that is placed in one of several holes girdling the turnbuckle coupler. The anchoring of the hand screw is more labor intensive than driving a nail; a rotation of a coupler requires up to several insertion and removal acts to press a floor board into position. Finally, the swivel head of the '449 device may be positioned in only one mode, shown to be the groove portion of a tongue-and-groove wood structure. Several difficulties in the usage of this device may be overcome with improvement to the anchor section, turnbuckle portion and the head. None are suggested by the patentee.
More appropriately described as a flooring jack is the tool disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 401,868. This device consists in: a single screw jack having a threaded sleeve anchor member transfixed by external nail-receiving tabs; a selective rachet device for turning the screw by manipulation of a rachet handle; and a head, the workpiece-contacting edge of which is stylized or relieved to receive therein the tongue of a tongue-and-groove floor slat. The speed advantage a turnbuckle coupling, lost with reliance upon a single screw, is regained with the more manipulative rachet device of this tool. The nail-down tabs associated with its anchor provide a decided advantage over hand-screwed fasteners, but no ease of removal of the nails is provided. Relative to the tongue-receiving head, a great facility is provided in this tool; however, in view of the fact that a great deal of joint relief surfaces are of the shiplap relief, use of such a workpiece, or a reasonable mix with tongue-and-groove work pieces, would necessitate multiple head changes, thus requiring a greater inventory of parts. I have avoided such a dilemma by providing a new head design for my invention.
Although barely resembling the aforementioned tools, that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 951,557, and described as a press for floor boards, has relevance both in its title and in the fact that an alternate modality of use is provided. The basic tool profile in '557 is a scissor jack, thus the turnbuckle coupler mechanism is bifurcated; a centralized handle turns a single bolt that is threaded in one direction at a first end and in the opposite direction at the opposing, second end. A coupler part consisting in a threaded tube or block is situated on each end of the threaded bolt. Depending on the modality of use, one of the blocks may serve as an anchor and the other an anvil or headpiece. Although turned and anchored, the device does not use a member that is to be secured to the floor or substrate, but rather depends upon a clamping action or pressing action exerted between fixed members of the floor-wall construction. The '557 handle means, for turning the screw or threaded bolt, is adopted in the instant invention.
3. Incorporation by Reference
Because of their disclosure of certain fundamental aspects of woodworking presses or jacks, the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 401,868, 951,557, and 1,094,449 are hereinafter incorporated by reference.